The present invention relates to a vehicular lamp employing a plurality of LED light sources, and more particularly to a vehicular lamp of a type which is configured so as to emit light using an indirect illumination technique.
Many vehicular lamps including a LED light source have been employed in recent years. For example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3,173,453 or Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 11-306810, a plurality of LED light sources are arranged in a line and mounted in such a manner so as not to be visible from the front of the lamp. The light output from the LED light sources is directed rearward toward the reflector, and the light from the LED light sources is reflected toward the front of the lamp by the reflector. This construction provides a soft illumination effect due to the use of indirect illumination.
However, in such a conventional vehicular lamp, since a common reflector is shared by a plurality of LED light sources arranged in a line, the reflection of light from each LED light source cannot be individually controlled. For this reason, the ratio of the total light output from the lamp, that is, the total light reflected in the direction toward the front face of the lamp, to the total light output from all the LEDs is small. As a result, there is a problem that the lamp is rather dim when observed from the front.